A Time for Change
by Frozen Archer
Summary: When a group of seemingly well-meaning individuals begin trying to 'better' society, Jade and the troupe of performers she calls family are caught in the crossfire. When bad things start to happen it becomes clear that maybe not all is as it seems.
1. Chapter 1

_**Just a few notes first. This story is going to take place in the Hoenn region. The storyline and main characters are my own. There will be characters used from the game-verse, e.g. gym leaders, Professor Birch, et cetera.  
That is all.  
Enjoy!**_

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**Chapter 1**

Flames danced in the sky above Oldale Town and the crowd below watched in amazement. Each part of the fire lasted only seconds before going out and being replaced by fresher, more vibrant, flames. A second burst of flame met with the first, causing the fire in the sky to become even larger. Within seconds there was a third volley of flames from yet another source. Now the flame where each met was streaked through with colours ranging from vibrant blues and whites to the regular oranges and reds of fire.

People from both Littleroot and Oldale had gathered to watch the troupe of performers that had entered the area. The troupe returned every year, and each time they returned the show just seemed to get even better. Children were crowded to the front as close as they were allowed to go, and even the adults were trying to get close to the front.

"Enough. Torkoal, Fire Spin," a male voice called, too quiet for the gathered crowd to hear.

The fire in the sky stopped abruptly, the three pokémon that had been responsible for it moved to stand closer together. The small crowd was watching with wide eyes, waiting for what was going to happen next. Only one person in the crowd remained unsurprised when all three were engulfed by flames that circled into the sky like a mini-tornado.

As the flames died down once more, the silhouette that could be seen through the flames was entirely different. The three that had been there before were gone, but something else was there. As the smoke and fire cleared, an elegant Ninetails came into view. She'd been carefully cleaned before the show began so her golden-white pelt seemed to shine in the bright sunlight.

"Fire Blast." There was yet another quiet command, unheard by the crowd.

The Ninetails stood up slowly, her red eyes piercing the awed crowd below. Without warning, the air around the Ninetails seemed to ignite, becoming a blazing inferno that appeared to explode out from it. The crowd remained untouched, and within seconds the blaze was gone as was the Ninetails.

While the gathered crowd rose to their feet and cheered, one person broke away from the group. It was a young girl, and she was heading around behind the stage. She had plenty of work to do now, and if she didn't get to it she would definitely get in trouble.

"Jade, hurry up already," a young woman snapped, turning to face the approaching girl. "I'd like to get to Petalburg in decent time." The woman turned around, her perfectly curled blonde hair bouncing lightly as she walked away with her Kirlia at her side.

The girl, Jade, watched the older woman walk away, glaring daggers at her back. Of the entire group, Bree was her least favourite. Just because Jade was the only one younger than Bree she was allowed to tell her what to do. It was really starting to wear on Jade's nerves. At least when the others told her what to do they were usually nice about it.

Jade could hear her mother, Lynnette, on stage now. "Thank you, ladies and gentlemen," she was saying, "We hope you enjoyed the show. We must be on our way now, but if anyone has any questions or concerns, feel free to join us backstage. Also, our next show will be in Petalburg City in two days for those that might care to catch a full performance."

Before she could get caught not working, Jade hurried over to where her mother left her Poké Balls and picked out the one that she needed. By the time her mother was exiting the stage Jade was already hurrying over to the wagon. She opened it, averting her gaze until the light died down. Standing beside her now was an odd creature. The front half of it was yellow with brown spots and the rest of it was brown with yellow spots, not to mention the two heads. He nudged her lightly with his nose, his intelligent gaze on her face.

"You know what to do," Jade told the Girafarig, a smile crossing her face for a moment.

He did know, and within minutes Jade was doing up the last buckle on his harness. This was the routine after every show; it was her job to attach her mother's Girafarig to the lead wagon while everyone else started taking apart the small platform. It had been this way for five years, though the troupe had been together many years longer than that, she just hadn't been old enough to really help back then.

Jade's thoughts drifted while she attached the harnessed Girafarig to the wagon. She had travelled with the troupe since she was a small child, her mother being the leader she basically had to. When she was older, she'd probably end up having her own little show, though she had no idea what that would be. The idea of anything different . . . well, she just couldn't imagine not being with the troupe. She even remembered when Bree had joined the group, back then she'd been nice and had gotten along with Jade. Now, at the age of 20, Bree was completely full of herself and really wasn't all that nice anymore.

Jade turned her thoughts away from the past, focussing once more on the present. With the Girafarig strapped up to the wagon, she headed over to help take everything apart. Bree was mostly useless when it came to taking everything down, only her Flygon proved to be useful as he removed the curtain from the back. Aidan was distracted, talking to a couple of the children that had come back to see his fire pokémon. Nearby Aidan's wife was trying to keep their two-year old daughter from getting in trouble. The only other person helping was Jade's own mother, who had her psychic pokémon pulling the stage apart.

Most of the crowd was already gone, save for a few that were watching them take everything down. There hadn't been many people to begin with, but considering the size of Oldale and Littleroot it was a bigger turnout than they'd expected. Of course, it was still better that they'd sent the other half of the troupe ahead. With the rest the show was even longer and it wasn't worth it to perform in such small venues. There was still the chance that these people could travel to Petalburg if they wanted to see the full show anyway, so it made up for it.

Jade's hand slid into her coat pocket, easily finding what she was looking for. She pulled the Poké Ball out and opened it. The only pokémon that was actually hers appeared beside her in a flash of light. Her Skitty, Crescent, tilted her head up, clearly pleased at being out of her Poké Ball.

Music that Jade recognized from many performances alerted her to the presence of Brea's Flygon, his flapping wings were the source of the music. He soared overhead just as Jade and Crescent looked up, dropping the curtain on them. Crescent cried out in surprise as the curtain covered them and struggled to get out from under it.

"Bree," Jade muttered angrily, pulling the thin material over her head until the last of it fell to the ground beside her and she could see the sky once more. Crescent was still under the material, crying out pitifully as she moved around in circles trying to find a way out. Jade reached over and pulled the material off of her Skitty, forcing thoughts of revenge out of her mind. The little cat-like creature tumbled out from under the curtain, unable to get her short legs under her for a moment.

It was easy to spot Bree with the way her green dress was shimmering in the sunlight she stood out. She looked away as soon as Jade looked over, trying to hide her smirk. It was hard to ignore that look, and it soured Jade's mood considerably, but there was nothing she could do to get back at Bree without getting in trouble. Unlike Bree, Jade actually got in trouble if she misbehaved because her mother, as the troupe's leader, couldn't have her daughter doing anything bad.

Still fuming, Jade started folding up the curtain while Crescent raced off after a leaf caught in the wind. The last of the spectators were finally leaving, allowing the group to finish up with everything.

Footsteps crunched over the ground behind her, approaching quickly. Jade finished the last fold and turned around to face her mother. Her age was beginning to catch up with her, lines slowly becoming noticeable on her face and the grey hair mixed in with the brown. Standing in front of her mother, Jade was several inches taller (of which she was grateful).

"I need you to run to the store in this town and fetch some drinks, I can finish up here." As she spoke to Jade, she also signalled to her Alakazam who had followed her over. The psychic pokémon used his Teleport to move the curtain which was most likely now in the wagon with everything else. "We're going to leave right now, but you'll be able to catch up I'm sure."

Jade nodded, but it didn't matter, her mother had already turned and was walking away with the Alakazam. It was always all business with her until they were away from the towns and cities. Everyone in the troupe was like that, seeming to each be an entirely different person as soon as they entered a town or city to perform. They liked to call it 'being in character', but in Jade's opinion it was just creepy.

She fished around in her pocket for a moment, checking that she had enough money to get everyone drinks. Once she was sure she had enough, she headed down the worn down road to the store. It was a short walk, the town being so small, and soon she had the drinks and was leaving the store.

The troupe was making good time; the sides of the wagon were just visible through the trees. By the time she found Crescent, they would already be well on their way to Petalburg. She didn't mind that much, as she knew the way to Petalburg anyway, and not being around Bree was a bonus.

Finding Crescent wasn't her favourite job, as the little Skitty could be almost anywhere by now. She remembered the last time her Skitty had run off, chasing after whatever had caught her attention that time. She'd eventually found her in someone's house. The silly little thing had climbed in through the window and given the people that lived there a good scare. Even if she didn't find her, she'd show up eventually after realizing that everyone was gone.

Jade's eyes scanned the area around her, hoping to find her quickly. She kept watching for some sign that Crescent was near as she walked down the road. Finally she spotted the little pokémon near where Route 101 started, which was not the way they needed to go.

She had almost reached Crescent when she bumped into someone. Whoever it was had been running and not watching where they were going. Both of them tumbled to the ground, the other person cursing as they hit the ground.

"Sorry!" the person exclaimed, scrambling to get up. They reached a hand down, offering to help her up.

_It's the least they can do after knocking me down so rudely_, she decided as she took the offered hand. With the person's help, she got to her feet and stepped back. Her gaze flicked to the person's face, curious as to who had bumped into her.

It was a boy (_big surprise, who else would be so careless as to run into people_, she thought) and he looked about the same age as herself. He was several inches taller than herself she noticed, slightly annoyed about that. His cheeks were bright red with embarrassment and he had his green eyes fixed on the ground at their feet. His hair, a light brown, was cut short and shot through with bits of lighter brown.

"I told you to wait for me," a new voice yelled. There was a girl racing through the grass that covered Route 101, the look on her face was one of rage. Jade was glad that the girl was clearly addressing the boy and not her; she looked like she was ready to kill someone. "Did you run into her?" the girl added when she was closer, still sounding furious.

Jade looked down at herself, noticing the dust that was now on her black pants. She began wiping it off, listening to the two as she did.

"It was an accident," the boy replied defensively, "And it's not my fault you're so slow."

"It wouldn't have happened if you'd just waited for me like I told you to," the girl snapped back, stopping beside them.

"Whatever," the boy muttered, clearly seeing that he wouldn't win the argument.

When she was sure that she had gotten rid of as much dust as she could, Jade straightened up. Her gaze moved immediately to the girl, her original annoyance at being knocked over was replaced by curiosity about the two that stood before her.

The girl was shorter than the boy, but both had a similar build as if they were built for running. Their faces had a similar shape, too, each with soft features and green eyes. The most noticeable difference was the girl's hair, which was bleach blonde. After looking at them, Jade assumed they had to be brother and sister. Her suspicions were confirmed a moment later when the girl introduced herself.

"I'm Elizabeth Michaels, by the way, and this is my brother, Blake Michaels." The girl forced a smile to her face.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Jade Marr," Jade replied, finding the whole situation to be awkward after what had just happened. The boy was still bright red and refused to look at either of them.

"Um, you wouldn't happen to know if that troupe of performers is still around, would you?" Elizabeth added hopefully, clearly feeling just as awkward as Jade.

"Actually, I'm the only one still here, the rest already left." Jade felt bad seeing the disappointment in Elizabeth's eyes, but there was nothing she could do about it.

Elizabeth seemed to realize something, judging by the look on her face. "Wait, you're part of that group?" she asked, studying Jade closely.

"Well, I'm not a performer if that's what you mean. My mom is the troupe leader, I just help set up and take things down." Jade fidgeted and looked away, feeling uncomfortable at Elizabeth's scrutiny.

"Oh," was all Elizabeth said in reply, finally looking away. She turned to her brother, which gave Jade a moment to look around to see if Crescent was still nearby.

When she spotted the small pink and tan pokémon, she whistled loudly. Crescent's head shot up, leaving whatever she had been about to try eating. She turned and raced towards Jade, moving as fast as her little legs could carry her.

Realizing she had a chance to make her escape, Jade turned back to the two siblings. Crescent stood beside her, her little tail puffed out dangerously as she regarded the two strangers.

"I should probably get going now," Jade explained apologetically and added, "The performance here wasn't the full show. If you two want we're performing the full show in Petalburg in two days."

"Alright, thanks," Elizabeth replied absentmindedly, her gaze on Crescent who was now growling. It was a funny sight, such a small and cute creature trying to look dangerous.

Jade turned away, Crescent following behind. The two siblings turned to each other and started talking, but Jade was already too far away to hear them.

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_**Oh look, a pair of trainers has appeared!**_

_**Thank you very much for reading Chapter 1 of my story! Reviews are always greatly appreciated. Constructive criticism is welcome as I'd love to be able to improve my writing.**_

_**As a side note, I'm not actually sure when I started this story, but I know it was over a year ago. Besides some editing to fix sections of this chapter and the second, it is basically the same as it was before. This chapter and the second were also both posted here previously, but I removed them. If, on the off chance you kind of remember this, that is why.  
Looking back, I'm not actually sure why I chose a Skitty for Jade...**_

_**Or, if you choose not to continue reading, I'd love to know why!**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**I forgot to mention this before, but I've also adjusted the age that trainers generally start their journey to 17.**_

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**Chapter 2**

"Jade, wait!"

Jade was barely halfway across the small town when she heard her name being called. With all of these distractions, she wouldn't be able to catch up to the troupe before nightfall. There would be no end to the lectures she would receive from both her mother and Bree. It was almost tempting to ignore the person that had called her name and just keep walking. No matter how much she wanted to ignore them, she knew it wouldn't matter, so she stopped and turned around.

"Yeah?" she called back, her gaze following Elizabeth and Blake as they jogged up to her. What could possibly be so important to them that they had to stop her?

"Can we come with you? Please?" Elizabeth asked, stopping in front of Jade. Once more, Jade could see the hope in her eyes and expression.

"What?" It was all Jade could manage in reply, completely taken off guard by the strange question. Her gaze flicked back and forth between the two siblings, wondering why they could possibly want to go with her.

"What Lissa means to say is that we were hoping we could go to Petalburg with you. We were going to travel there anyway, but . . . we don't really know the way and were hoping you wouldn't mind?" Blake said, clearly able to talk now that his embarrassment had passed. His expression was almost unreadable, but Jade could still make out the faint glimmer of hope in his eyes that was much more obvious in his sister.

_No, no, no! Who, oh why do they have be so nice. If they were mean I could at least say no_, Jade thought, not exactly happy about the idea of having two people she barely knew travel with her. Seconds ticked by as she struggled to decide if she should let them go with her. Beside her, her Skitty was becoming agitated again at seeing the frustration in Jade's expression. While Crescent didn't completely understand what was going on, the little pink pokémon could clearly see how her trainer felt about it, and it didn't make her happy.

"I guess . . . But I won't actually be going into the city until tomorrow. We usually set up camp a ways outside the city," Jade finally replied, trying not to let them see how much she disliked saying those words. They remained completely oblivious to her sour mood, though, which was surprising considering how obvious Jade thought it was. Jade reasoned that it was because they probably hadn't travelled and met very many people. They would learn quickly.

"If we could even travel that far with you, that'd be great," Blake said, though it sounded more like a question to Jade.

"Uh, sure, that's fine," Jade replied, trying to hide how uncomfortable she was.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Elizabeth's voice went up in pitch with each word. The girl stepped forward, throwing her arms around Jade's neck in a hug.

Beside them, Blake coughed, clearly feeling awkward once more. At their feet, Crescent's fur had puffed out again, not realizing what was going on, but sure that Jade was being attacked. The little creature surged forward and grabbed the hem of Elizabeth's jeans between her teeth and pulled. There was an audible ripping sound and Elizabeth yelped in surprise, stumbling backwards.

"Crescent, no!" Jade fumbled around in her pocket and pulled out the Poké Ball, returning Crescent quickly before she could do any more damage - like actually bite Elizabeth's leg, which she clearly intended to do next.

Blake turned away, trying to hide his laughter so that Elizabeth wouldn't see. At the moment, he was the only one that found the situation funny. Elizabeth was examining the rip that Crescent had created near the bottom of her jeans, which wasn't as bad as, say, a bitten leg?

"I am so sorry," Jade said, feeling terrible. She'd known this whole thing was a bad idea and they hadn't even left yet with this already happening. The trip itself couldn't possibly be any worse, though, right?

"It's fine, I can get them fixed or something," Elizabeth replied, straightening up. It still didn't make Jade feel any better about the whole incident - and incident really was the only word to describe it.

"We can worry about the rip later," Blake told Elizabeth, still holding back laughter. "We should probably get moving though, right?" This time he addressed Jade, looking over to see if that was what she wanted. He couldn't have suggested anything better, she decided - except maybe them not travelling with her.

"Yeah, we should, otherwise we won't make it to camp before nightfall," Jade agreed, forcing a smile. Without waiting, she turned and headed down the road again. She was anxious to get moving and to get the trip done and over with. She was concerned about what to do about them once they reached the camp, though.

Several minutes of walking passed in silence. The only sounds were their own footsteps and the occasional sounds of wild pokémon moving around in the tall grass and among the trees. It was strange, walking with other people that weren't part of the troupe. She'd never really bothered to talk to very many people when they were in the towns or cities, especially people her own age. It was so much more fun to just hang out with the troupe, who, once out of the cities and towns, really came alive. Most of the people she knew well outside of the troupe were friends of the troupe, all of whom were older than her.

Finally, the silence was broken by Elizabeth. "So, how old are you?" Clearly, she didn't like the silence any more than Jade.

"Seventeen," Jade replied simply, not sure if she should say anything more.

"Cool," Elizabeth said, hesitant. "I'm only sixteen, but Blake's the same age as you."

There was nothing Jade could think to do except nod, and they lapsed back into the same silence as before. The younger girl looked disheartened, pulling at Jade's sympathies. "Why are you guys going to Petalburg? I mean, don't get me wrong, it just seems that there has to be some reason other than our show for you to be going there."

"There is. We both just got our starter pokémon from Professor Birch," Blake explained quietly. "Petalburg is the first stop on our journey besides Oldale, and we were hoping we'd get to see your show, after everything we've heard about it . . . it just seemed like the perfect opportunity to learn more."

_So, the two of them were going on an adventure. How interesting_, Jade thought. She'd heard of people doing that, – usually always teens - but had never actually met any of them. Not that it was surprising as she didn't exactly talk to everyone she met besides the exchanging of common pleasantries. There was just never any reason. Why make friends with people you'd only see once or twice a year?

"You're sixteen, though," Jade realized, voicing her next thought out loud.

"Our mom thought it would be a good idea for us to start together," Elizabeth explained, clearly relieved that everyone was talking now. She wasn't the type of person that could stand silences that lasted longer than a few seconds, it just felt awkward to her when a silence stretched out too long.

The look on Blake's face showed that he wasn't entirely in agreement with that statement. Again, not much of a surprise after the way he'd almost lost his sister earlier.

"Yeah, it's kind of different, but Professor Birch agreed that it could be a good idea," Blake added when Elizabeth had finished.

Jade wondered if he really minded that much, at least now he had someone to travel with. Already Jade's thoughts were drifting, considering what it would be like to go off on an adventure. It would mean leaving the troupe, and that in itself would be horrible enough for her. She'd be alone most of the time, always battling or training. It was hard to imagine such a lifestyle change after growing up her whole life with the routine that came with the troupe. Every spring they'd regroup after practising or just relaxing for the winter and go on tour once more. Even the route they followed was always bascally the same, starting from Oldale and finishing in Slateport. Then, partway through fall they'd return to their own homes. It was a never-ending cycle, or at least that's how it felt for Jade.

When she finally surfaced from her thoughts, she'd missed some of the conversation going on between the two siblings who were both becoming more animated as they talked. They'd completely moved on from talking about Elizabeth leaving home early and were now discussing (or, more accurately, arguing) what they were most looking forward to on their adventure.

"The gym badges," Blake said, cutting off whatever Elizabeth had been about to say. "How can you not want to get all of them? If I- _when _I do, I'm going to face the Pokémon League. I want my team to become more powerful than mom's."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "You're missing the point! We're going to be travelling to all these different places! Do you know how many different pokémon we're going to see? How many sights and landmarks? How many people we'll meet? How can you care more about some silly badges when we're going to see the world?"

Jade sighed, wishing she was still lost in thought. If she had to listen to this all the way to camp she was sure she'd go crazy. It was bad enough having to put up with Bree when she found another admirer, especially when said admirer was a boy. You'd think at the age of twenty she'd act a bit more mature, but no, every time she had a chance she'd be running off and flirting with boys or letting some little girl treat her like royalty. It could be quite sickening.

"Either of you seen a Ralts before?" Jade finally asked, cutting off their bickering. She needed to find a way to distract them, at least until she was no longer with them. That way they could continue their argument when she wasn't around.

"A what?" Elizabeth asked, sounding confused.

"A Ralts," Jade repeated, pointing her finger at the small pokémon that was disappearing behind a stand of trees. The red horns on its head stood out against the green of the grass.

Elizabeth's eyes were wide as she watched it, her hand searching for something in her pocket. A moment later she pulled out a rectangular device, opening it without taking her eyes off the Ralts. When it was finally out of sight, she looked down at the device, which Jade now realized was a Pokédex.

A small image of a Ralts appeared on the screen, and in an annoying voice, the small contraption described the pokémon, "A Ralts has the power to sense the emotions of people and pokémon with the horns on its head. It hides if it senses hostility."

At the last sentence, Elizabeth's cheeks turned a bright pink, obviously realizing why the Ralts had been moving away from them so fast. Her gaze flicked to Blake, who didn't look nearly as embarrassed as his sister.

"Don't worry about it, they hide from most humans anyway," Jade reassured the younger girl, almost feeling bad. After all, she had been the one to point it out. "We should probably keep going, though," Jade added, trying to subtly point out the darkening sky as the sun crept ever closer to the horizon. They were so close to where the troupe would already be camped, she knew. The amount of time that had passed since the end of the show in Oldale was more than Jade wanted to admit.

"I guess," Elizabeth said quietly, still looking disappointed about the Ralts.

They began walking again, and soon the flickering of flames could be seen through the sparse trees and they could hear the sounds of laughter floating through the air. _Almost there_, Jade thought happily. She was already looking forward to the supper that she knew waited for her, whatever her mother and Felicity had chosen to cook over the fire this time. Her stomach rumbled in anticipation.

The three stepped around the last tree that stood between them and the troupe, still a good distance away. The clearing that they had entered was one that Jade recognized. This was the same spot they stayed at every year before the show in Petalburg. It marked the beginning of months away from home, living in tents in the wild or, funds-permitting, in a hotel in one of the larger cities. Already they had the tents set up, what looked like colourful bubbles of different shapes and sizes sitting on the ground around the fire. The mere sight of it had Jade wanting to run forward, but she knew she couldn't just run off when Elizabeth and Blake were with her.

Once more the silence became awkward as they approached the tents. The sun was almost completely down now, leaving everything darker except the area around the fire. What was she going to do about Elizabeth and Blake? The thought was on all their minds she was sure.

Wishing she could just ditch them without feeling bad, she stopped and turned to face them. "Do you two have a place to stay tonight?" she asked, forcing herself to sound bright and friendly.

The two siblings exchanged a glance, most likely not realizing they were doing so. When they turned back to Jade, neither of them could look her in the face as Elizabeth answered quietly, "No."

_Of course_, Jade thought, _they're going on an adventure yet they have no idea where they're going to spend the night. Brilliant_. Out loud, she said, "If you want I can see if we could make room in one of the tents for you."

"Really, you wouldn't mind?" Elizabeth asked hopefully, some brightness returning to her face.

_Yes. Yes, I would_, she wanted to say, but she just couldn't force herself to say the words. Finally, she said, "I don't mind, I'll go talk to my mom if you just want to take a seat around the fire." She shrugged slightly and turned to go face her mother. She already knew the answer she'd get.

Behind her, Elizabeth and Blake were drifting towards the fire. Based on the look on both of their faces, they were nervous. None of the adults sitting around the fire were familiar to them, nor could they decide what they were thinking as they sat on one of the logs that had been pulled up near the fire. It was a short ways back, and as far from the troupe as possible. Several curious gazes turned in their direction for a moment before they returned to what they'd been doing earlier.

Jade paused outside her mother's tent, drawing in a deep breath before stepping inside. She still wasn't sure how she would explain the two pokémon trainers that she'd met and how she'd offered them a place to stay.

"Hello, dear," Lynette said without turning around.

"Hey, mom," Jade replied quietly, trying to decide how to ask.

Before she could even get any of the words out, her mother continued on, "Your friends are welcome to spend the night with us, I'll sort out some new sleeping arrangements. They should be able to take Bree and Skye's tent, and I'm sure we can find some extra blankets for them. We can deal with that later, though, I'm sure you and your friends are hungry."

"You know, sometimes I swear you can read my mind," Jade said mildly as she stepped back out of the tent.

"Now why would I need to do that when I have Alakazam," Lynnette pointed out as she stepped out of the tent behind Jade. That was when Jade noticed that the psychic pokémon wasn't in his Poké Ball. Instead, he was standing outside the tent, watching her with an unreadable expression.

Jade followed her mother to the fire, sitting down closer to the flames than the two trainers had dared go. Her gaze flicked to Elizabeth and Blake, and she indicated the spot beside her. Still looking very self-conscious, the siblings got up and moved closer to the fire. It was impossible to get within two meters of the fire, not because of the heat, but because of the fire pokémon that had settled down on the ground right beside the flames. With them being there, the fire was over twice its normal size, the light and heat that it cast around the circle were just perfect.

"Jade, you wanna toss me the drinks?" Felicity asked, rising to her feet. She smiled warmly at Jade and the two trainers beside her.

Jade pulled the plastic bag out of her small backpack and tossed them to Felicity who began handing them out according to who liked what. While Felicity moved around the circle, her two year old daughter followed her, stumbling along at her heels and nearly colliding every time her mother stopped. The little girl, Autumn, was accompanied by her mother's Vulpix which kept her from falling. When Felicity passed Aidan, the little girl stopped and he picked her up to sit on his lap. She watched the two trainers with open curiosity, pointing at them and whispering to her father. The Vulpix sat down beside the two, his gaze moving around the group for a moment much like a careful watch dog checking for dangers.

Both Lynnette and Felicity disappeared momentarily, returning a moment later with three plates of food. The smells coming off of them were amazing, even better than how Jade had imagined them earlier. It was the first meal of their tour, and the quality would probably decrease over the coming months. Jade and both siblings were given their plates, stacked with food that both looked and smelled delicious. It had been cooked over the fire, of course, something that the two older women had perfected over their years of travel.

While Felicity returned to her spot by the fire, Lynnette faced Elizabeth and Blake. "Welcome to our camp, young ones. I am Lynnette, Jade's mother and the leader of this little group." She gestured to the rest of the group as she moved to sit down, signalling for them to start introducing themselves.

First was Felicity, the only adult in the group that didn't actually perform. "I'm Felicity," she introduced herself. Her gaze was warm and welcoming as she looked at Elizabeth and Blake.

"Name's Aidan," the man beside Felicity said, merely nodding. "And this is our daughter, Autumn," he added, exchanging a glance with Felicity as he introduced the little girl that was curled up in his arms and slowly drifting off to sleep.

"Bree," the blonde-haired girl said simply, standing for a brief moment. The beautiful dress she'd been wearing earlier had been replaced with simpler clothes, including a light blue blouse and black dress pants. She was always one to look good no matter the situation.

The next to stand was another fairly young woman. As she brushed the dark curls back behind her ears she said, "I would be Skye." She smiled at the two young trainers as she sat back down before turning her attention to the next person.

"It's a pleasure to have you here, my name is Jayden," a young man said as he rose, brushing hair out of his eyes. "I'd prefer you called me Jay, though," he added with a friendly smile.

The girl sitting by Jayden's side rose next, her hand rested lightly on the young man's shoulder as she introduced herself. "My name is Audrey." Another smile.

Last was a young man, much taller than anyone else seated around the circle. He looked almost like a giant out of some story the way the light from the fire caught his powerful features. "I'm Toby," he introduced himself with a slight bow, a cheerful smile on his face.

Jade's gaze had followed each person as they introduced themselves, though her concentration was fixed mostly on the food on her plate which was nearly half gone already. She paused in her eating long enough to set her plate down and stand up. "Everyone, this is Elizabeth and Blake," she said, introducing the two who, at the moment, seemed at a loss for words as they took everyone and everything in. Jade briefly noticed that Elizabeth's eyes kept slipping from the faces to the pokémon that were seated around the fire and interspersed throughout the group.

With introductions over, everyone had settled back into their spots to talk and laugh amongst themselves about old stories, or what would happen over the next two days.

* * *

_**I'm always interested to hear what people think! Also, if anyone thinks they know what each member of the troupe does (besides the one's that have already been revealed) I'd be interested to hear it.  
As I mentioned at the end of Chapter 1, constructive criticism is always appreciated!**_

_**In regards to how often I intend to update, I'd like to be able to update once a week. If I can build up a decent sized buffer (i.e. get at least three chapters ahead) then I might post more. The main reason for the short gap between chapters is that I'd like to get an idea of how much interest there is in this story.  
Chapter 3 will be out on the 14th at the latest (I'm really busy this weekend and I'd like to get Chapter 4 done before releasing Chapter 3).**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**Here's chapter 3!  
This is also where the new writing begins.**_

* * *

**Chapter 3**

Night passed and the rising sun brought a cool morning damp with dew. Dark clouds had massed on the horizon, a clear hint that a storm was approaching. Already the trees and grass around the tents were alive with the sounds of Pokémon. Very little moved within the boundaries of the troupe's camp, however, as most of the performers still slept or remained inside their tents. This, too, was normal for a day when they wouldn't perform and after a night of little rest.

The door of one tent fell inwards, the sound of the zipper loud against the quiet of the small clearing. Two shapes emerged from the tent, each moving quietly so as to avoid waking their neighbours.

"Can't I please go back to sleep, we don't even have a performance today," Jade moaned quietly, rubbing at her eyes. This was yet another one of the times that she wished she was merely a performer and not the leader's daughter. Not being a performer meant that she was often given errands to do and that she had to help clean up. Basically, she got a lot of the behind-the-scenes work which really just meant grunt work.

"Not if we're going to get everything done today," Lynnette replied, the expression on her face was one of exasperation. The older woman was used to her daughter's complaints, but they could still got on her nerves at times. "Besides, you can sleep in tomorrow."

"Fine," Jade muttered, heading over to the where the fire had been the night before. Felicity, always among the last to retire to her tent, had put it out. Even this was a fairly old routine for the troupe.

There were still a few plates and empty bottles lying around that had been missed when they'd tried cleaning up. So now Jade took her time picking them all up, returning them to the storage tent.

The storage tent itself was actually used mostly for their current supply of food and dishes. Kitchen tent would have been more fitting, but the troupe had deemed it the storage tent anyway. The top was rainproof, but the sides were made of bug netting. Everything inside was neat and organized; plates and other dishes were stacked on top of their box and dirty dishes were piled beside the empty tub which would be filled later in the day. Other boxes lined the sides, some filled with props and costumes for performances while others held travel supplies.

Jade left the dishes beside the tub and dumped the bottles in the garbage bag near the entrance. With most of the cleanup already done all that was left for Jade to do now was wake the two trainers and escort them into Petalburg City. From there she could leave them and then start to work on the errands she was always given before a performance.

Jade stepped out of the storage tent as her mother walked around from the far side of the tent. With her she had a small bag with shapes that Jade assumed were Poké Balls, a second bag which carried the troupe's shared money, a sealed envelope, and a poster that advertised the troupe. All of this was immediately handed over to Jade and the young girl dropped it into her backpack.

In her mother's eyes, Jade could see the signs of stress and worry, both were things that were rarely seen in the older woman. In fact, it was so rare to see her like this that Jade could feel her own sense of worry growing every second. The older woman blinked and any sign of stress or worry that had been there before was gone, replaced by the normal calm look that Jade was used to seeing. For a moment she wondered if maybe she'd imagined it, that maybe her tired mind was playing tricks on her, but her mother's voice cut through her thoughts.

"I'm sure this is all self-explanatory, but I've given you the list just in case as I'd rather you didn't forget anything." Jade could still hear a note of worry in her mother's voice, assuring her that the stress she'd seen before had been real. "Now, you'd best wake your friends and be on your way." A moment passed and her mother added, "And please be careful." Immediately she turned and walked away, leaving Jade to wonder about her mother's words.

Sometimes Jade was sure that her mother really did have some psychic powers, and now was one of the times when she saw it most. "Weird," she muttered, before turning and heading over to the tent that the two trainers had spent the night in.

Inside the tent she could hear the soft sound of voices. Clearly the two siblings were already awake, probably not used to the light that shone through the tent's material in the morning.

Jade pulled the zipper down, letting the material of the door fall inwards. Immediately Elizabeth and Blake fell silent, their gazes flicking up to Jade. Elizabeth's blonde hair was a tangled mess and she was still wrapped up in the blankets she'd borrowed. Blake looked much the same as the day before with his light hair already fixed and neat and his clothes straight and mostly clean, and unlike Elizabeth he was sitting on top of the blankets. Jade assumed he had been up longer and Elizabeth had only recently awoken judging by the looks on their faces.

"If you want to get ready, we should probably get going," Jade said, trying to ignore the fact that they had shut up as soon as she had joined them. She'd be rid of them soon anyways, she didn't need to know what they'd been talking about.

"I'll be out in a moment," Elizabeth replied, her voice quiet with sleep. Slowly she began untangling herself and pulled her backpack out of the corner.

Jade stepped back, away from the tent and within a few seconds Blake was standing beside her. Unlike the day before when he had been rushing to see the performance and had seemed shy and defensive he now seemed calm and collected. His expression made it impossible to guess what he was thinking about.

Upon noticing her gaze, Blake smiled at her slightly. His entire expression warmed and his gaze turned friendly. Once again Jade couldn't help but notice the change from the day before. In many ways it was like he had changed overnight, making her wonder what he was really like.

"So, what do you have planned for the day?" Blake asked. His tone was innocent enough, but Jade wondered if there was a reason behind his asking. If they wanted to stick with her today . . . well, she didn't know what she'd do but she did know she didn't want that to happen.

"Mostly just going to run errands for the troupe," Jade replied honestly, watching his expression closely. She'd been right, or at least close, she could tell immediately when his expression shifted.

"Could Lissa and I maybe hang out with you a bit today, at least until we figure out what we're going to do?" Again, she could see that same hopeful expression that the siblings had used on her the day before and again she couldn't help but say yes. She really needed to learn how to say no.

"Yeah, sure." She used as light a tone as she could; like yesterday she didn't want to let them know how much it annoyed her to have random strangers tagging along. A small smile crossed his expression and she wondered for a moment if he knew how much she didn't want to have them along.

"Lissa's probably going to be a bit, knowing her," Blake warned. His gaze flicked back to the tent where the door flap was now closed.

"I figured." This time Jade actually managed a true smile. "If you don't mind, I'm going to let Crescent out."

Blake shrugged slightly, showing that he didn't mind. To Jade's surprise, he pulled out a Poké Ball of his own. She'd known that the two trainers would have their own Pokémon, but she hadn't seen either of them yet.

Both of them pressed the small buttons at almost the same time, and once the light had faded there were two Pokémon standing beside them. Jade's gaze was immediately drawn to the small, blue creature that was beside Blake. Like her own Skitty, it stood on all fours, but that seemed to be the only major similarity. On each of its cheeks were orange gills and it had a fin on top of its head and for a tail.

"He's a Mudkip," Blake explained upon noticing that Jade didn't recognize him. His gaze had been on Jade's face instead of the Pokémon at his side.

"Have you chosen a name for him?" Jade asked, committing the small Pokémon to memory. Her gaze finally flicked up to Blake's face.

His gaze moved to the Pokémon at his side before he answered, "Jet."

They stood in silence after that, watching the two Pokémon, neither able to come up with anything more to say. Crescent had wandered off a ways, clearly not wanting to be near the much smaller Jet. The small Mudkip had other ideas, however, as he followed Crescent around. Jet learned quite quickly not to get within a meter's distance of Crescent as he was quickly batted away when he tried. It was almost sad at the same time that it was amusing.

After what felt like forever in Jade's mind, Elizabeth finally stepped out of the tent. Her blonde hair was brushed out to near perfection with one side clipped back, much the same as yesterday. The green sweater she wore matched not only her eyes, but also the detailing on her white backpack. She looked perfectly composed and Jade found herself amazed that this girl wanted to become a trainer.

"Alright, ready to go then?" Jade asked, starting to become impatient. They'd lost more time than Jade, or more specifically her mother, would usually have liked.

"Yep, we're ready!" Elizabeth answered quite excitedly.

Jade smiled slightly, called out quietly to Crescent, then turned and led the siblings out of the camp. The Skitty left whatever she had been investigating and hurried after them. When she had caught up she walked along at Jade's side quite happily. Blake's Mudkip trailed along behind them, finding the thick grass harder to travel through than the others.

They'd travelled close to three quarters of the route the night before which meant they didn't have to far to go before they would reach the city. The trees and grass around them had become increasingly noisy as more pokémon woke up and began to stir. As they skirted around a pond they heard what sounded like several pokémon barking nearby.

Elizabeth paused briefly to look in the direction of the noise causing the rest of the group to pause as well. All three watched as a Poochyena ran across the path ahead of them, a second one close on its tail. Both disappeared among the trees quickly after, the sound fading as they moved farther and farther away.

Elizabeth had her Pokédex out almost immediately, flipping it open. A commotion behind them caught Jade and Blake's attention, though, and the two turned around to find the cause. What they found was one very startled-looking Mudkip nose-to-nose with a Zigzagoon.

They heard Elizabeth's Pokédex behind them as it registered the Zigzagoon, "Zigzagoon. A pokémon with abundant curiosity. It shows an interest in everything, so it always zigs and zags."

Jade saw a look of determination on Blake's face, so she stepped back to give him space for the battle that was about to take place.

"Jet, mud-slap!" Blake instructed, entirely focussed on what Jade assumed was one of his first battles.

The small blue pokémon responded enthusiastically by launching mud directly into the Zigzagoon's face. The furry pokémon jumped back, shaking mud from its fur as it did so. The Zigzagoon leaped at Jet, tackling him to the ground and sending him tumbling into the shallow water at the edge of the pond.

"Shake it off and use tackle," Blake called, watching his pokémon intently.

Jet scrambled back to a standing position and jumped out of the water. Upon hitting the ground, he launched himself at his foe, returning the favour and sending the wild pokémon rolling across the hard ground. It picked itself up and took off into the deep grass, disappearing quickly from their sight.

Blake knelt down on the ground near his Mudkip, clearly excited with their win. "Good job, Jet," he told the equally excited pokémon. It was clear that the strong effort put on by the Mudkip had also tired him out so Blake returned him to his Poké Ball.

"Good job, Blake," Jade said, glancing down at where Crescent had been. When she found that the Skitty was no longer there she sighed, somewhat irritated. Crescent had managed to wander off despite how short the battle was. By now Blake was also standing, and both he and Elizabeth had noticed the problem.

After a few seconds of the three scanning the area Elizabeth pointed and said, "There she is, Jade!"

Jade followed the younger girl's finger to find her troublesome pokémon playing with leaves close to the other side of the pond. Feeling somewhat embarrassed about not doing a good job of keeping track of her own pokémon, Jade made her way over to Crescent with a slight blush creeping up her neck and cheeks. She was almost grateful that her back was to the siblings for the moment. As Jade pulled out Crescent's Poké Ball, the pink creature glanced up at her quite cheerfully and pawed the leaf in front of it one last time before returning to its Poké Ball in a short-lived flash of light.

"We should be able to see Petalburg any moment," Jade informed her companions as she walked back over to them. She wanted to keep the topic away from Crescent, at least for the time being.

The anticipation could be clearly seen on Elizabeth's face and Jade also noticed it in the way that the younger girl almost seemed to have sped up. Blake, on the other hand, had gone back to looking nearly expressionless as he watched the path before them.

As they walked around a thick stand of trees the first of the buildings started to come into view. The path below their feet became more solid as well. There were no paved roads in the city; the community had preferred that the place be kept more natural. They also didn't lack vegetation as there were plenty of trees and shrubs between the buildings. Oftentimes there would even be the odd wild pokémon wandering around which was something Jade had witnessed fairly often in past visits.

Jade glanced over at the two beside her, watching their expressions as they took in the strange city. In truth, there really weren't many 'normal' cities in Hoenn, and this one wasn't nearly as impressive as some. She almost wished she could witness how the siblings would react to places like Pacifidlog Town or Fortree City, especially Elizabeth as she was more expressive of the two. This much was shown by Elizabeth's expression as she looked around them wide-eyed. As usual, it seemed, Blake was doing a much better job than his sister in concealing his excitement.

"Is the whole city like this?" Blake asked, looking around at the trees and at the 'roads' with barely masked surprise.

"Yep, it sure is. Even the centre of the city is pretty much like this," Jade explained. She'd seen the city numerous times and was unsurprised when they had to cross a bridge over a fairly large pond to stay on the road.

It seemed fairly clear to Jade that the two wanted to pause and look around for a moment. Elizabeth kept glancing over the edge of the bridge railing at the water below them. Even Blake was glancing over at the pond. _I can't really blame them, I guess_, she reminded herself. After all, she'd been just like them when she first started visiting Petalburg City.

Jade stopped close to halfway across the bridge, leaning with her arms on the railing to look out. Blake and Elizabeth stopped beside her, taking in the scene with bright eyes. The townspeople had always done an excellent job of keeping the ponds clean, and so they could see several feet into the water below them. Water lilies floated on top and every so often bubbles would come up to the surface and sit for a moment before popping.

Across the pond from where they were they could see a pair of children playing in the shallow water with a Poochyena. The trio made a fair bit of noise as they splashed about until an adult, seemingly a parent and likely the pokémon's trainer walked over and chastised them for the mess they were making of their clothes.

Jade's attention was drawn to ripples across the surface of the water. As she watched they became more pronounced until a small blue face popped out of the water. It bobbed there for a moment, its round body floating easily at the top of the water.

Jade nudged her companions and pointed at the wild Marill that was bobbing in the water. As they turned to look, a second one floated up, bumping into the first. This resulted in a brief play fight as the first splashed the new arrival before taking off across the water.

Elizabeth pulled out her Pokédex excitedly and listened to it while she watched them play. "Marill. The fur on its body naturally repels water. So it can stay dry, even when it plays in the water."

They waited another minute, watching the peaceful scene, before they continued across the bridge and deeper into the city. By then, they'd already lost a lot of time, but Jade found herself starting to relax and not mind as much as she led them on.

"It's amazing here," Elizabeth breathed, still trying to take it all in. Her brother nodded in agreement, but added nothing.

Jade led them around a corner and stopped in front of one of the first large buildings they'd seen. "This is the city's Pokémon Center; you'd best keep in mind how to get back here. Also, whenever you need a place to stay you can come here," she informed them, indicating the large red and white building they were stopped beside.

"The Pokémon Center in Oldale Town looked a lot like this one," Blake mentioned mildly, studying the building.

"Most of them do look really similar. The only big difference is size," Jade replied, holding the door open for the siblings.

The three entered the modern-looking building, letting the door fall closed behind them. None of them were expecting to find the chaotic scene they found before them. There were several pokémon running around, the most noticeable of which was a Whismur sitting in the corner crying and screeching as its trainer attempted to calm it. An Electrike ran by in front of them almost taking Jade out at the knees. A flustered looking trainer ran by them chasing after the green and yellow electric pokémon.

On the other side of the room, several nurses were running in and out of back rooms trying to address everyone's problems. Another nurse stood at the counter, trying to get through the lineup that had formed. As they watched, two police officers walked out of a back room deep in conversation. They both looked concerned about something.

While Jade was still looking around, Elizabeth had walked up to a woman who appeared to be around the same age. She'd just finished handing over a few Poké Balls to the nurse and was heading for the door. "Hey, do you know what's going on?" Jade heard Elizabeth ask the woman.

Jade and Blake followed after Elizabeth, both curious about the answer to the question.

"Ah, well, from what I understand there was a fire in the electrical room yesterday evening. They spent the night trying to fix it, but so far they haven't succeeded. Someone mentioned they'd had to call some electricians from Rustboro City. A little over an hour ago some of the townsfolk brought in their electric types to get the place running again. They only just finished processing some of the people from last night, so they're completely backed up, and not everything works without full power," the young woman offered helpfully.

"But aren't places like this supposed to have backup generators?" Blake questioned, looking concerned.

"They do have one here, but from what everyone's saying it sounds like someone messed around with it recently, so it didn't work. I really need to get going, though," the young woman finished apologetically. She nodded a slight goodbye to them before making her way out of the crowded building.

Jade glanced at the siblings, smiling slightly. "Well, I have to get in line. You two don't have to stick around if you don't want to." She was starting to get used to the two, but she still hoped they'd take her offer and leave.

"I should probably stay and make sure Jet's alright," Blake said, more to his sister than to Jade.

"Alright, well there's no point in me sticking around. Are there any stores nearby?" Elizabeth asked hopefully, directing her question to Jade.

"Yeah, there is. If you turn right when you walk out and go straight down the street a few blocks you should be able to find a few," Jade offered. She was pleased that at least one of them was going to go. It was only a matter of time until both of them left her, she hoped.

"Thanks!" Elizabeth said. "I'll try and be back here soon," she added. Elizabeth hurried away before either could respond.

When Elizabeth was gone, Jade and Blake turned and made their way to the back of the long line.

* * *

_**Same as last time, Chapter 4 won't be posted until Chapter 5 is complete.**_

_**I'd love to hear from anyone who's been reading this!  
Few interesting developments with this chapter. We finally met Blake's Pokémon, and had an interesting experience in the Pokémon Center. Things are going to start becoming more . . . interesting from here.**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**A new chapter finally! Took longer than I intended, couldn't decide how I wanted to end the chapter. Plus, Chapter 5 most definitely isn't written yet. See the author's note at the end for important information!**_

* * *

**Chapter 4**

"You don't really want us around, do you?" Blake asked. Jade and Blake were finally close to the counter when he broke the thirty minute silence that had existed since his sister left. It hadn't necessarily been an awkward silence, though, as the room was too loud for casual conversation. Both had been occupied watching their surroundings, anyways.

"I wouldn't say that, exactly," Jade said, deciding that things had now become awkward. "I'm just not that comfortable with the situation is all." She knew it wasn't the best answer or the most honest, but she hoped he'd accept it. While she spoke, she knew he was watching her and so she kept her gaze averted. When she finally glanced up, she found understanding in his green eyes instead of the accusatory expression she expected to find.

Blake smiled slightly, probably trying to reassure her, she decided. "I can't blame you; I'm not entirely keen on the situation either. I mean … trainers usually go on their own when they start out, and here we are following you around." After a moment he added, "I'm not really sure why Lissa is so okay with it, actually."

"I don't think she's as interested in the 'trainer' aspect of it," Jade pointed out. She was relieved to hear that she wasn't the only one that didn't like the situation. This new info made her all that more certain that they'd be parting ways soon.

"True…," he said in agreement, his voice quieter than before. He muttered something after, but he was almost too quiet for Jade to hear and she'd just reached the counter. She was fairly sure he'd said something about his mother, though.

"How may we help you today?" an exhausted looking nurse asked when Jade turned her attention to the counter.

Jade dropped her backpack onto the ground and pulled out the bag of Poké Balls her mother had handed her earlier. "I was hoping I could get these pokémon healed," Jade replied, smiling slightly at the overworked nurse as she handed over the bag.

"Could I get your name, ma'am?" the woman asked, counting the Poké Balls inside of the bag.

"Jade Marr," Jade responded, watching as the nurse counted out the seven Poké Balls and then wrote her name on a tag which she attached to the bag.

"Alright … If you come back in approximately two hours they should be ready." Upon seeing Jade's surprised expression, the nurse added apologetically, "We're swamped at the moment, so it's taking longer than usual to process all of the requests."

"Thank you," Jade said, trying to hide her irritation as she picked up her backpack and stepped out of the way for Blake to hand over his Mudkip.

She considered just walking away and leaving Blake, but decided that it would definitely be impolite. Plus, she now had plenty of time to get the items on her list done.

As she was waiting, two men walked into the building wearing old, stained work clothes and tool belts. Both had the logo of some company from Rustboro City printed on the back of their shirts. The first one looked almost like he'd washed his face with dirt that morning with the number of smudges that marked his tanned face. The second, and definitely the senior of the two, looked much cleaner, though it was clear it had been a while since he'd shaved. They completely ignored the large line, and walked right up to the front desk.

"Where's the electrical room," Jade heard the first one ask, cutting off Blake in the process.

The nurse looked extremely relieved to see the two workers there. "I'll call the manager out, she can show you to the way and answer any of your questions," she replied, hitting what Jade assumed was a button under the desk.

The first man nodded slightly in thanks before he and his companion stepped out of the way. Not even ten seconds had passed when a small woman came hurrying out of a back room. Jade was certain she couldn't have been more than four foot six, but she certainly carried herself like she was much taller with her brisk stride. The woman looked more than a little stressed and exhausted with strands of brown hair mixed with grey falling out of a bun and circles under her eyes. Had it been a normal day, Jade was fairly sure the woman would have been completely composed with not a hair out of line.

"Follow me, please," the woman said in as business-like a tone as was humanly possible, her voice much louder than should be possible for such a small body. Jade was fairly sure the woman wanted to add the words, "And it's about time you got here!" but she didn't. Instead, she turned on her heel and hurried away with the two men following her.

"Guess we both have a long wait, huh?" Blake's voice came from right beside her, pulling her attention away from the workers and manager who had just disappeared from sight.

"Oh, uh, yeah, we do," Jade replied, still somewhat distracted. "Do you think someone intentionally set the fire?" She had to look up slightly in order to actually meet his gaze as she asked.

"I think it's possible, but why? Who would want to do something like that, even? It doesn't really make sense to me. I mean, places like this are here to help trainers and pokémon." Blake looked like he wasn't as certain about his answer as he would have liked to be. She could also see the concern that she knew was reflected in her own grey-blue eyes.

"Yeah, I guess."

Jade couldn't count the number of times she'd been to the various Pokémon Centers across the region, and she'd never heard of something like this happening before. Small thefts were fairly common, but the criminals responsible were almost always caught quickly. Someone basically shutting down a Pokémon Center, though, just seemed ridiculous and unrealistic. She was definitely going to be telling her mother about it. If anyone had heard of something like this before it would be her.

"We should probably go outside, it's crowded enough in here as it is," Jade suggested, gripping the strap on her backpack with her hand and pulling to adjust where it sat on her back.

Blake nodded and led the way out, weaving around people to get to the door. The biggest difference once they were outside, Jade decided, was the noise level. Outside of the building everything was peaceful and fairly quiet, which was a relief to Jade and Blake after being in the loud, busy building.

"I need to go print off some posters to hang up," Jade informed Blake. Her gaze shifted so that she could see his expression. Before he could say anything, she'd made up her mind. "If you want to tag along, you can."

The surprise he felt was evident to Jade from the widening of his eyes and the way he studied her expression. He must have decided that the offer had been sincere, because he smiled slightly and said, "If you really don't mind, sure."

Jade returned the smile, hoping she wouldn't regret her decision. She wasn't sure why, but she didn't mind having the boy around as much now. She wouldn't go so far as to say she enjoyed having him around, though.

"I don't," Jade reassured him. She turned and headed down the street, knowing he'd follow.

Sure enough, he was keeping pace with her within seconds. If he'd wanted he could have easily outpaced her with his extra height, she knew. Neither spoke as they walked, comfortable in the silence.

They passed several small stores. Signs advertised the different items available, everything from medicines to Poké Balls, to berries. Some of the shops even had members of their staff outside trying to convince people to enter the small buildings. Others had small tables set out in front of their building with some of their wares laid out, probably hoping to catch the attention of passersby.

They ignored the shops, and when salespeople tried to address them directly they turned them down as politely as they could so that they could continue on their way.

Jade slowed down her pace, scanning the shops more carefully now. Without giving Blake any warning, she suddenly changed direction and crossed the street. He was back at her side almost immediately, though.

Before them stood a small building painted a startling sky blue. It lacked any signs besides a small poster hanging in one of the windows that read, "Danny's Post and Print Shop. For all your paper and mail needs!"

As they pushed the door open a small bell rang out across the small room, alerting anyone inside of the building of their presence. Across the room a young girl with chin length red hair glanced up at them briefly from behind a desk before looking back down at whatever she was reading.

The room they'd entered was small, but more than made up for it in personality. One wall was lined floor to ceiling with mailboxes and had been painted blue and white to create a scene of clouds and sky. On the opposite side of the room there were several bright blue chairs pushed up against the wall, all three slightly different shades. The rest of the room was painted an off-white colour with sea blue trim. Behind the desk there were several stands, most of which were empty. Two of them, though, had pokémon on them. The first was a sleeping Taillow, its small head tucked against its chest. As they watched, the second, a Wingull, shook itself out and spread its wings before settling back in.

Jade crossed the small room to the desk while Blake walked over to the chairs to sit down. Upon reaching the desk, she pulled her backpack off her shoulder and set it on the desk. "How much will it cost to get fifteen posters printed out?" she asked the girl at the desk while she searched through her backpack for the sample poster she'd been given that morning. Upon finding it, she pulled it out and set it on the counter beside the girl's magazine.

The girl pushed her magazine aside and moved the poster so that it was directly in front of her. "It'll be about sixty Poké Dollars," she said after a moment.

"Alright," Jade mumbled, digging out the envelope from her backpack. She pulled out the correct amount and handed it to the young girl.

"Perfect. Give me a few minutes and I'll have them all ready for you," the girl responded. She picked up the poster and headed through a white curtain into the back room.

Jade closed up her backpack and walked over to sit with Blake to wait. "So do you know where you're going from here?" she asked him as she sat down.

It took Blake a moment to recognize that she was talking about the city and not the building they were in. "We're gonna head to Rustboro City from here," he replied, adding as an explanation, "That's where the first gym is."

Jade nodded slightly, having expected the answer. She didn't understand the desire that he, and many others had, to obtain the various gym badges. There were enough trainers who were set on achieving such a thing that it no longer surprised her. Not all of those trainers were overly nice, either. Many of them were so set on their goal that they could be quite rude if you got in their way, or if you turned down their request to battle. Not only was she not keen on battling, she also wasn't fond of putting Crescent into battle as the little pokémon wasn't overly strong or focussed. She'd grown sick of her and her Skitty being used as training fodder for arrogant and new trainers. She'd taken to using her mother's pokémon to battle when the trainers would absolutely refuse to leave her alone. Unlike Crescent, her mother's pokémon didn't lose to the young trainers and more often than not, they'd leave with their egos in check.

Her mother often pushed her to try training and battling, despite Jade's arguments. Maybe she would eventually, but Jade was more than happy with how things currently were and saw no reason for that to change. No reason to intentionally put Crescent through pain.

"I guess we'll be taking a very similar route across the region," she said after a moment of thought. There'd be some notable differences, she knew, based on the location and order of the gyms, but there would be a lot of similarities.

His eyebrows rose slightly at this bit of info. "That could be kinda nice, possibly seeing a familiar face once in a while … well, besides Lissa, of course," he mused, partly to himself it seemed.

They were interrupted by the return of the young girl holding the requested posters. Jade jumped up and hurried over before she could be called. With a quick thank you she grabbed the posters and led Blake out of the small building.

Once outside she stopped and separated the posters into two piles. She offered the smaller stack to Blake.

"You have a PokéNav right?" she asked him once he had the posters.

"Oh, yeah I do," he answered after a moment, clearly having been caught off guard.

"I'll give you some locations for those posters, and we should probably register each other just in case." Jade pulled a small, worn out, grey PokéNav out of her jeans pocket and flipped it open.

"Alright, good idea," he said, his voice becoming muffled when he looked down to search his pocket. He pulled out a seemingly brand new, blue PokéNav and flipped it open.

Jade narrowed her eyes, examining the small device he'd just pulled out. "I don't think I've ever seen that model before," she said.

"Oh, um, it's the newest model," he said after a moment of hesitation. "Anyways, we should probably do this so that we can get those posters up."

"Yeah. We'll meet in front of the Pokémon Center when we're done."

…

Over an hour had passed since she and Blake had parted ways to deal with posters. In that short period of time the sky had clouded over, completely blocking out the sun and shadowing the city. Jade was almost back at the Pokémon Center when the first raindrops began to fall. She sped her pace up, hoping she could avoid getting too wet. The rain was just starting to come down harder as she ducked into the building. She grimaced slightly, knowing she'd have to go back out soon whether it stopped raining or not.

She paused in the doorway to fish an elastic band out of her pocket and pull her chestnut brown hair back from her face. When it was wet, it looked much darker, enough so that the thin black streaks blended in nearly perfectly.

The building was even busier than before. The line had been shifted so that it ran along the wall, and there weren't many empty seats in the small waiting area. It seemed as though more nurses had shown up to help deal with the queue that had developed as there were now two desks open and the nurses coming in and out didn't look quite as rushed or stressed as earlier.

Jade walked across the room through the open doorway that led into the cafeteria. She'd thought that the main room was busy, but upon seeing the open cafeteria area she realized just how wrong she was. The place was full of trainers, other travellers, and even some of the townsfolk all of whom were either trying to avoid the rain, just waiting for their pokémon, or just grabbing lunch.

Across the room Elizabeth was waving, trying quite successfully to get her attention. Both her and her brother were sitting at a table by the windows where one could clearly see the deluge of rain coming down. Jade returned the wave, acknowledging them, before turning and heading for the line.

She'd skipped breakfast that morning and after all the walking around she'd done, she was starving for lunch. Pokémon Center food wasn't her favourite, but for a place that had to serve such a large number of people it was surprisingly good. The staff behind the counter was busy building and cutting up sandwiches. There were a few salads laid out on the counter with stacks of bowls sitting in front of them. None of the kitchen appliances were in use, in fact, they didn't even appear to be functional at the moment.

Jade picked up a tray and followed the quick-moving line down the counter. She picked up a sandwich and grabbed a granola bar from a basket. Upon reaching the fridge stationed at the end, she paused in surprise. Only the top two thirds of the fridge held drinks and a few fruit containers. On the bottom, however, was a Snorunt. It was sitting in the bottom of the fridge quite comfortably with a wide, upside-down grin. It took a moment for Jade to recognize that the fridge, like the other appliances, was not running and that the ice type was the only thing keeping the drinks and fruit cold.

With the addition of a cold bottle of water to her tray, Jade paid for her food and headed across to sit with the siblings. Jade sat beside Blake so that she could face the window, her backpack on the ground under the seat beside her.

Blake had already finished his lunch, and Elizabeth was just finishing which left Jade as the only one eating. Not that she really minded since it gave her a good excuse to just sit and listen.

"This weather is awful!" Elizabeth stated, sounding more than slightly annoyed.

"The rain should let up soon," Blake replied, trying to reassure her. "Did you get any of the items we need?"

"Oh, um, no." Elizabeth looked away from her brother's gaze briefly when she answered, her cheeks taking on a pink colour.

"No? Did you buy _anything_?" he asked incredulously.

"No, I didn't…"

At this point Jade looked up from her already half-empty plate to watch the siblings. The colour in Elizabeth's cheeks seemed to be turning redder by the moment. Blake on the other hand seemed to be in shock.

"Well what have you been doing for the last two hours then?" Blake asked, his voice coming out slightly harsher than he'd probably intended it to.

"I ran into a friend," Elizabeth said after a moment of hesitation. She kept her gaze carefully averted, seemingly studying her slender fingers.

Before Blake could reply and ask who she'd run into, he was cut off by a piercing alarm. Lights began flashing red above doorways and the Center's staff began hurrying about.

"What's going on?" Elizabeth tried to yell over the racket, her eyes wide. Her words were drowned out by the alarm and the sounds of everyone around them moving.

Jade shrugged, grabbing her backpack and swinging it over her shoulder as she stood up. Both her companions rose as well, looking as confused as Jade felt. She grabbed what remained of her sandwich and her drink and headed in the direction that everyone else in the room seemed to be going. Out.

* * *

_**Few new developments. Also tried to throw in some details about Jade, and I'm considering editing some into the first chapter. Next chapter should be more interesting, and should hopefully be where more plot-stuff gets going. As always, I love any and all feedback about the story and my writing.**_

_**Tomorrow morning, I am leaving on a week long trip. I doubt I will get any writing done for this story or for A Legendary Cure. When I return, I am moving to start a summer job. At this point, or shortly after, it is highly likely that my computer will be sent away for repairs. I will still be coming online, checking notifications, et cetera from my phone. For the remainder of the summer, I will likely have little to no access to WiFi, so until the USB drivers on my computer are fixed it will likely have no internet access. **_  
_**All of this basically means that I most likely won't be posting new chapters very often, at least not until some issues are resolved... Sorry.**_


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